George

Stocksfield Community Woodland Car Park – Broomley – West Broomley – Riding Mill – Riding Lea – Riding Hills – Prospect Hill – Corbridge – bus back to start.

Overcast and windy. Very little sunshine.

George, Ron, Michelle.

Ashley - preparing to go to Thailand

Sandy - cooking for Songs of Praise - EXCUSE OF THE YEAR

Michael - recovering from operation

Diane and Richard - unwell (contaminated by visitors)

Comments

An early navigation error in the woods sent us (fortuitously as it turned out) the long way around to Broomley. A local dog walker was unable to help us. We missed some bikers in the woods.

As we turned off the track just past Roe house, we got chatting to a man, who told us that our proposed route along the side of the river was blocked upstream from Riding Mill He even rang his wife to confirm and advised us of an alternative route. As we descended to Riding Mill, we passed an egg farm with posh chicken huts. We saw a Cayuga Duck there.

We ate lunch sitting on a seat beside the bus stop just outside Riding Mill. A bus driver wasn't sure whether to stop. We climbed up towards Riding Lea, past several mansion type houses and an unusual red and white house. There was a large pile of smelly manure at Riding Hills, but good views of the Tyne Valley. We walked up to Prospect Hill before descending towards Corbridge. We passed a house with gardens in a quarry which had terracing and a pond. We also saw a large orangery.
We encountered some difficult stiles and had to lift Ruby over one with several horses in close attendance. A brown sheep came running across the field to meet us. We missed a stile out of one of the fields on to the road and had to clamber over a gate. When we reached the south side of Corbridge, we decided to abandon the intention to walk to Hexham and got the bus back to the start point, which cost Michelle and Ron £3.60 each.

The Badger, Ponteland. Michael’s first meal out after his op. Joined by Sandy and Evelyn.

January Walkers minus one

Giant Puffball

Across the fields

Hen Houses

Speckled Hen

Cayuga Duck

Horse

Riding Mill

St James's Church

The Long Road